Background: Studies of current opinion of our community members for the characteristics, mode, and location of use, use cases, and overall enthusiasm for point-of-care testing (POCT) diagnosis and management tools are needed.
Study design and methods: Qualitative research methods were used to develop, refine, and evaluate hardcopy and electronic versions of a 45-item English language survey. The accuracy of the instrument was measured by recorded structured interview, and its precision was measured by comparison to its administration to a group of uncompensated volunteers.
Main findings and results: Comparison of survey and structured interview data demonstrated high levels of accuracy. Highly concordant with significant levels of correlation and of direct association indicated favorable precision. Ninety-three percent of respondents believed that POCT could improve their care, and 56% identified having a POCT in their home as a top priority. Accuracy, insurance coverage, immediacy of results, and ease of use were identified as the most important characteristics of a POCT.
Conclusions: Community members strongly support the development of accurate, in-home devices that produce immediate results that can be used to diagnose, manage, and encourage their adherence to treatments for their medical conditions.
Keywords: laboratory testing; medical devices; point-of-care technologies.